In an effort to raise funds and inspire education about international adoption, we are sharing our own journey as we take it step by step. Our desire is to adopt two siblings, Ruslan and Anastasiya, from an orphanage in Ukraine.

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

A Little Update...

We have been getting a lot of questions about how things are going, what we know, what our travel plans are and so on so I guess it’s time for a little update!

After our review date of February 22nd, we have a 20 day waiting period before the officials in Ukraine are expected to respond. Unfortunately, it’s a 20 business day waiting period so we would not be able to expect to hear anything before the 21st of March.

We also just found out today that, thanks to the change in ministry over the adoptions which extended our ability to submit our first round of paperwork prior to the winter holidays, there is also a change in policy that will increase this wait time now. Up until that change, the officials that reviewed the paperwork and extended the invitations to the adopting families also signed that official invitation. Now, they delegate the signing of the official invitation to another office, thus extending the wait time a few more days…at least.

After receiving our official invitation, we can make travel plans and have a much better idea of the timeframe of when we will have them home. The expected scenario is that we will travel 3-4 weeks after receiving that invitation.

Unfortunately, we have a little something that could potentially set us back. I found out too late that my passport doesn’t have my maiden name listed, but all the adoption paperwork does. If someone felt like it, they could make that an issue. It could mean we’d have to redo all of our paperwork, a very LONG and EXPENSIVE process. It could set us back several weeks. We are praying that it will be passed over and will not be an issue. The expense of the paperwork is not my concern as much as getting our kids here and progressing in their new life. I have to allow the Lord to steer this ship. I know He will make it all happen the way it is supposed to, the way that is best for all of us. We will and have been praying every day for this issue to be diminished and resolved. I know the Lord expects us to exercise our faith through our works…even if the decision has already been made. I have learned to expect miracles.